Online conference on the failures of liberal feminism

listening to Nimco Ali really hit home how non-trivial this all is. It’s literally a life-or-death issue

Nimco Ali really hit it out of the park, I thought. Amazing woman,

When she spoke of her experience talking to groups about FGM still going on in this country and in other countries, and being told that she was 'transphobic' in her focus on biological women and girls!

That anecdote, for me, brought transactivism into perspective as a privileged, First world white concern, not a million miles from men's rights activism.

If I had to sum up the individual messages, I’d say that the speakers talked about different ways in which women have been let down by powerful actors. Ali looks at humanitarianism, Power at party politics, Stock at academia and Harrington (who I think is a really interesting political thinker) at elite political imagination. I liked them all very much, great chairing by Louise Perry, but listening to Nimco Ali really hit home how non-trivial this all is. It’s literally a life-or-death issue.

What I would have liked would have been a more detailed consideration of how post-liberal feminism will fit in with post-liberalism in general. Plenty of male post-liberals out there, where do our interest coincide, where do they diverge? Because if post-liberalism means anti-individualism, it means more ‘community’, where will that come from and how will women shape it?
What will our relationship with power look like? Nina P. said she ‘nuked’ her life and now lives a precarious existence as a free-floating intellectual but some of us must hold on to institutional power.

[quote carlaCox]@louisemperry I've just noticed Kathleen Stock is no longer on Twitter. I'm hoping this is a Christmas Twitter break and she hasn't become another "disappeared" woman online? Anyone know more?[/quote]
I’m not sure. I think she first of all had the husband of Grace Lavery rip into her and call her the most vile things. The husband is a trans man and GL is a trans woman. Then for some bizarre reason Glinner also stuck the boot it.

I don’t know how KS does it to be honest. Her working life must be intolerable.

@louisemperry I've just noticed Kathleen Stock is no longer on Twitter. I'm hoping this is a Christmas Twitter break and she hasn't become another "disappeared" woman online? Anyone know more?

Will listen to this in chunks as I can, but if the speakers have any key papers they could point us to, that would be great.

Watching now. Really interesting. Thanks for organising this.

This was very interesting. Many thanks.

This was a really excellent discussion, well done to everyone who spoke. Kathleen is becoming a bit of a personal hero of mine, she's so considered and measured. Loved hearing Nimko give an African perspective as well, really powerful stuff.

I wasn't able to watch live, but I will watch on YouTube. They all sound v interesting, and I haven't heard some of the speakers before.

really looking forward to listening to this, all my favourite feminists!

Can you share the YouTube link please? Very interested in this. Thanks

Watching this at the moment, and thank you thank you thank you, @louisemperry - Nimco Ali is a revelation, as is Mary Harrington, two speakers I'd not heard before.

THank you so much for such a rational and reasonable discussion.

Sorry I couldn't make it, but thank you also for offering the catch-up option.

Insightful presentations. It's worrying the extent to which women's gains have been undermined. The progress I took for granted is not only stalled but, arguably, going backwards.

Worth catching up on once it's up on YouTube.

Anything that includes Kathleen Stock and Nina Power has to be worth a listen - the context might be centre-right but their 'take' is definitely not. Plus the focus on motherhood and African feminism.

Signing up right now!

I'm working today but will definitely check this out on YouTube later. Looks like a great discussion.

Ah I wanted to tune in but suddenly lumped with meetings and deadlines this morning. :(
It looks great. Will catch up on it later.

Thanks, I will catch up with it on YouTube later. It looks really good.

You could be right @stumbledin. It’s Philip Blonde’s think tank, so by no means socialist. Sort of soft conservative, I guess, although someone may well correct me (I imagine Blonde would say he has no fixed allegiance). I was more interested in the explicit statement re liberal feminism being problematic, and how this was getting a fairly main stream airing. I will try and tune in to see what sort of direction it takes

Is this a socialist feminist / academic event?

ie most of the topics are about ideas or what I call media feminism, having very little to do with the practice of feminism.

Bumping also. Frustrated that the likes of Jameela Jamil in the name of 'intersectional' (aka liberal) feminism are undermining the roots of true feminism.

Commenting to bump! Just seen this on twitter and did a search to see if it had been shared here or not. Looks great. I’m also really pleased about the motherhood topic